Title: Law of Looking I
Contents
Date: 2010. 1. 17 · Category: Sunday morning sermons · Text: Genesis 13:14 - 18
Our lives are determined by what we look at. Many people agree that our thoughts shape our lives, but we don't know how to control our thoughts. Our thoughts depend on what we voluntarily look at. The direction of a person's life can change depending on what he or she thinks and looks at. In a busy life, nothing is more meaningful than knowing what is your most important and priority.
The reason that Abraham obtained the land and became the father of many people's faith like the stars was because he looked to God's promise. Moses was able to part the Red Sea and destroy the Egyptian army because he saw God's promise and power to save them. The reason that the boy David was able to defeat the great Goliath, which no one could resist, was because he looked to God's protection. The woman who had been ill for 12 years was able to be healed by touching the hem of Jesus' robe because she looked at Jesus' mercy, love, and her healing self.
Even at this time, God promises us and lets us look at it. He will surely fulfill what he has promised, and ultimately give us what we are looking for. If you keep looking at the promises God has given you, looking at it repeatedly, and patiently looking until what you have been looking for becomes a reality, you will get what you hoped for one day.
Through today's text, I sincerely hope that the grace that confirmed God's love through the law of looking that God gave to Abram can now be with me and you living in the present. We look at what we should look for in God, what we can enjoy by seeing, and how amazing the “law of looking” that looks at God and His promises is, we will learn how to develop the faith and ability to overcome the crises of life. I earnestly pray in the name of Jesus Christ that it will become an opportunity for new courage and transformation for those in need of hope and encouragement.
You have to open your eyes and look. - Verse 14
One of the two people who went into the prison looked out the window and complained about the muddy ground. I cursed my life. The other looked out the window at the sky. I wrote poetry while looking at the stars and the moon at night. He repented of his past mistakes. When the two men were freed after serving their sentences, the person who lived in resentment went to the psychiatric ward, and the person who looked at himself while writing poetry went to a publishing house with a collection of poems.
Two robbers were nailed to the left and right of Jesus' cross. A thief reviled Jesus. But another thief recognized that Jesus was the King of kings. I know that you are the master of heaven.
Luke 23:42 “And I said to Jesus, Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom!”
43 “Jesus said to him. I truly tell you Today you will be with me in paradise.”
As such, what you see is more important than where you are. One thief denied Jesus, the savior, in order to escape the crisis he was facing right now. However, the other thieves looked to Jesus as their savior even in the crisis they were in, so they were blessed to live in paradise with Jesus.
Although I did not read, Genesis 13:1-13 shows that Abram is more considerate of his nephew Lot than himself in the process of making his nephew Lot independent so that he can now live his own life journey.
Genesis 13:8 “Abram said to Lot. Should there be a quarrel between you and me? There must be no quarrel between your shepherds and mine. Are we not relatives?”
9 “All the lands are before you; let us live apart from one another. If you go left, I will go right; if you go right, I will go left.”
10 “Lot looked around the land and saw the Jordan Valley. Lot saw that there was plenty of water in the place toward Zoar. It was like the garden of the Lord and like the land of Egypt. That was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.”
11 “So Lot decided to live in the Jordan plain and moved east. So Abram and Lot lived apart from each other.”
Dear saints, What you and I look at will affect your life, whatever it is. Abram would not have yielded everything to his nephew Lot if his thoughts and greed had preceded him.
Genesis 13:6 “Abram and Lot had so many livestock that the land was too small for them to live together.”
7 “A quarrel arose between the shepherds of Abram and the shepherds of Lot. At that time, the land was inhabited by Canaanites and Perizzites.”
In a way, it would be okay for Abram to tell his nephew Lot to just leave in this situation. But Abram did not. It was a difficult environment, but you can see that he cares more about Lot.
The very first words of looking in the Bible are,
Genesis 1:4 “The light was good in God's sight. God has separated the light from the darkness.”
Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and he saw that it was very good.”
This was a time when people looked and saw that everything was fine and there were no problems. God, who created with the word, was not just good, but very good in his sight. It was. By the way,
Genesis 3:6 “The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good, and it was beautiful to look at. Moreover, the fruit seemed to make a person wise. So the woman took the fruit and ate it, and gave it to her husband beside her, and the man ate it.”
That's right. The woman had been looking at the fruit that God had commanded her to neither see nor eat for too long. As a result, a desire that should not have arisen arose. What's more, Satan can't just let this woman's heart go! Having noticed the greedy woman's heart, Satan wraps it up with the best words and takes the woman's heart completely. In the end, greed begets sin, and doesn't that sin ultimately lead to loss of life?
It's a crime to look at something that you think you shouldn't see for a long time. A quick glance is the best way to go.
Numbers 21:8 "The LORD said to Moses, Make a copper snake and hang it on a pole. Anyone who is bitten by a snake will live by looking at it."
9 “So Moses made a copper serpent and hung it on a pole. Anyone who was bitten by a snake who looked at it came to life.”
Dear members of the White Stone Church! What you and I look at with our eyes lifted up may seem simple, but it is a very important rule.
What you look at shows that this curse and life-altering results are brought about. What do we see the most in our daily life?
You can't deny that I'm becoming that kind of person without knowing what I'm watching. As the saying goes, clothes get wet in the drizzle.
Psalm 25:15 “I always look to the LORD. Because the only one who can stop me from falling into the trap is the Lord.”
Psalm 123:1 “I lift up my eyes and look to you. I look to the Lord in heaven.”
2“As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of their mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God. We look to Jehovah until he has mercy on us.”
John 3:14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”
15 “It is so that those who believe in him may have eternal life.”
16 “In the same way, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. so that whoever believes in his Son will not perish but have everlasting life.”
17 “God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but he sent the Son to save the world through his Son.”
Dear saints,
All the brothers in the blood relationship left, and Abram was left alone. It was Abram, who lived alone and without children in a strange land, even in an unaffected wilderness. However, in the most loneliness, God came to Abram. And lift up your eyes while comforting Abram! I did. God's wonderful blessings came to Abram who obeyed.
There will be times of hardship, suffering, and environmental difficulties in our life journey. But never give up! Never sit back and lament! Don't be discouraged what to do! Raise your eyes and look! Look to God who never leaves us! And live rejoicing in Jesus Christ! I earnestly pray in the name of Jesus that you will comfort us and look to God who is always by our side.